Coronavirus Considerations
- Details
- Published: Saturday, 14 March 2020 18:15
- Written by James Dean
With the situation surrounding the coronavirus changing almost daily it's important that we prepare as a church for possible changes to our weekly routines.
General precautions
If you are feeling unwell and are experiencing cold of flu-like symptons please do not come to Sunday services or midweek life groups to prevent passing. Follow the NHS recommendations and stay at home for 7 days if you have either:
- a high temperature – you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
- a new, continuous cough – this means you've started coughing repeatedly
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
Will bechurch be meeting in the coming weeks?
At present, there is no ban on live events and other large-scale gatherings in the UK. As such, bechurch can meet on Sundays and midweek and events can still be organised and run, bearing in mind general advice and precautions provided by the NHS and Public Health England.
The Government does have the power to ban events and gatherings if they deem it necessary, so we will be keeping updated on Government advice.
With that in mind, we will plan for Easter as usual but we will of course inform you the moment anything changes.
Changes for Communion
Although there is no official advice, we already use individual cups for drinking wine but will be pre-cutting individual pieces of bread when we next celebrate the Lord's Supper.
Can we assist with "virtual" attendance
For those not able to make the services in person, either through self-isolation or different reasons, we are looking at several options including:
- Live streaming the service online via YouTube.com
- Posting shorter messages online through the week
- Ensure that audio of sermons is made available more quickly after the service.
You feedback on the helpfulness of each of these ideas is welcome.
Specific advice for churches from FIEC
In line with the advice already outlined, there are a number of things to think about with regard to church attendance. Most of these are to simply follow general good hygiene:
- Don’t come to church gatherings if you have cold or flu symptoms;
- Don’t share in communion if you have cold or flu symptoms;
- Disinfect surfaces that are regularly touched (eg. door handles, keyboards, light switches);
- Make sure anyone handling food or handing out items to large numbers of people wash their hands, preferably with soap and water;
- Wash your hands with soap and water (for at least 20 seconds) on entering, or sanitising hand gel if soap and water is not available. The 20 seconds needed for washing hands is just about the right amount of time to recite the Lord's Prayer;
- Avoid close contact with those who are unwell (eg. no pastoral visits to those who are self-isolating).
NHS England has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do if you believe you may have coronavirus. You can also find answers to more common questions on coronavirus on the NHS website.
Please keep in contact
If you need to talk, and particularly if you are self-isolating or considering self-isolating, please get in touch with one of the elders by phone, text message or email and tell us so we know you are okay and can offer prayer and help if you need it.
A final encouragement
It's easy to forget at such times that we have a God who is fully in control and perfectly loving, who hears our prayers and responds to them. We should then comfort ourselves with this knowledge and pray that God would keep us safe, that he would help those at the front line of treating the virus, and for it to be gone!
